More than 150,000 people are trafficked within South Asia every year – mostly for sex and domestic work

NEW DELHI (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - A 24-year-old woman is recovering in hospital in western India after three people allegedly beat, branded, and chopped off her breasts because she refused to be sold for sex, the Hindustan Times reported on Monday.

Police said the victim was trafficked to Bhiwandi city in Maharashtra state where she was being forced into prostitution by a female brothel owner and two other men.

"The victim, who had been trafficked from Gujarat to the powerloom town (Bhiwandi) and was sold to the brothel, was forced into flesh trade," Bhiwandi's police inspector Rajan Saste Bhiwandi was quoted as saying.

When she refused to do sex work, the three people allegedly attacked her, breaking her teeth, branding her and cutting her breasts off, he added.

Police have arrested the brothel owner and are currently looking for the two other suspects.

The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime say over 150,000 people are trafficked within South Asia every year – mostly for sex and domestic work, but also for forced marriages and the trade in human organs. The real number is likely to be higher because the trade is underground, campaigners say.

Many of the thousands of young girls trafficked to India are brought in from Nepal and Bangladesh.